Friends of 1. FC Cologne were at least irritated when the Bundesliga broadcaster spoke at the beginning of the year Sky published a list with the names of the candidates for the open head coach position: We were talking about the Dane Bo Henriksen, currently with the Swiss national league team FC Zurich, Thomas Stamm, who looks after the second representative of SC Freiburg in the third division, and Matthias Kohler, most recently at FC Volendam in the Dutch Eredivisie. What should you make of such eccentric insider recommendations?
On the one hand, fans want not only Bruno Labbadia and other usual suspects to be available, but on the other hand, they also don’t want to imagine the contrast: For example, that the fortunes of their club are entrusted to an unknown young laptop trainer – in the case of FC would also have to take the place of his charismatic predecessor Steffen Baumgart.
In this respect, Cologne sports director Christian Keller has dispelled the worst fears in the audience for the time being with his selection. As far as his professional self-image is concerned, Keller is a man who has exceptionally strong confidence in his own judgment and is not afraid of public opinion that he could have been trusted to make an apparently unpopular decision. The decision for Timo Schultz, 46, however, represents a realistic solution between the opposing viewpoints. Schultz, who led FC St. Pauli in the second division for two and a half, very successful years, and a three-month, largely unsuccessful guest appearance at the beginning of this season at FC Basel, which had gone astray, but has had some experience in professional football. But he is not yet a typical representative of the coaching carousel and embodies a personality that is unblemished by stereotypical assessments.
“When 1. FC Köln calls, you don’t have to think twice,” says the new coach
Schultz may have already won over one or two Cologne supporters with the first sentence he spoke at the press conference for his introduction on Thursday afternoon. When asked what motivated him to commit to Geißbockheim despite the club’s transfer ban and 17th place in the table, Schultz answered without a hint of time to think about it and with the greatest possible matter-of-factness: “If 1. FC Köln calls, then you don’t have to think twice.” The precarious sporting situation in connection with the Fifa penalty – for a breach of contract in the case of the young player Jaka Cuber Potocnik – has already “preoccupied him, but I am convinced that we have a good team and that we can deal with the situation “No matter how ugly it may be, you can turn it and straighten it.”
Christian Keller confirmed that he had examined various candidates over the past two weeks since his separation from Baumgart. “A good selection process requires that it be carried out thoroughly; I was able to speak to many excellent coaches,” he said. In addition to the sports director, team manager Thomas Kessler and chief scout Martin Schulz also took part in the process. Unlike the possible candidates mentioned, contact with Timo Schultz remained hidden. When his name was mentioned in the media for the first time on Thursday, he had already signed the contract and put on the suit for the first training session, which took place in the Franz Kremer Stadium that morning. The evening before, he had already sat together with the remaining members of Baumgart’s coaching team. The fact that André Pawlak and Kevin McKenna should also be at Schultz’s side was a condition that the club had set; this position was “non-negotiable,” Keller explained. Goalkeeping coach Uwe Gospodarek, on the other hand, packed his things after his Christmas vacation and left the post.
Schultz assured that he had seen a lot of FC games this season and recognized some that he liked and deserved a better ending, as he said: “There were a lot of people there who were really on point.” However, a miserable ten points and an even more miserable ten goals are facts “that cannot be explained away”. Stylistically, he will not revolutionize the work of his esteemed predecessor, said Schultz, neither in the basic formation – preferably a back four – nor in the attacking approach: “The term actively thinking forward That’s the best way to do it – going forward is also an essential part of my idea.”
Schultz did not yet know how to answer the question of how a native of East Frisia and a committed Hamburger would cope in the million-strong village of Cologne on the Rhine. But he already has an unforgettable memory with Cologne: the birth of his son was announced here when he had to stay in a hotel on the edge of the old town after an evening game with FC St. Pauli. His wife’s call that the boy would soon be born reached him at half past four in the morning. Schultz didn’t want to reveal on Thursday whether he was still in the old town or already in the hotel. But he was back in Hamburg in time for the birth of the child.